Kite +6%

First trip complete! It was a little hard on the varnish. My wife, daughter and I did the Nation Lakes Chain in Northern British Columbia over 7 days. I'll post details in the trip reports sections a little later. I'll just say that I am very pleased with this boat. It carries a load well and is very calm in rougher water. Speed felt good, it wasn't as fast as the two kayaks I was paddling with but I was carrying most of the gear for them and all the food. I even brought along 3 cots for comfort since we had the room. The boat got some willow shine along the way and a few scratches on the bottom when I misjudged the depth in a river section. I temporarily mounted the back rest from my other canoe and clamped a cup holder on the thwart but I really need to get on making a dash for it.

sounds like a lovely trip. Good the work paid of. The yellow bags look good in there.

Hope it is the first of many. The osprtey / kite is no speed demon. They shine when things get rough or twisty

Nice pics, anxiously awaiting the TR...
The Kite is a very well balanced compromise hull, it takes on just about anything you can throw at it.
I bet it feels great paddling such a competent design that you built yourself. And it's so pretty.
For me, that feeling never gets old, and it's been nearly 50 years since I built the first boat!
Congrats on a job well done, betcha can't wait for the next trip and next build.

Cruiser said:

Looks great, wooden boats just feel different I find. Trim looks really good, like you said.

If you routinely use the twin, think about longer if you can get it ... at least see if you can try one, I suspect your seewt spot is around 270 cm

Enjoy your new boat

Brian

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I just wanted to say that @Cruiser was right on the longer paddle. I stretched out my Shuna as long as it would reach to 260cm. After spending days with both longer was definitely better. My legs were dry and I like the extra sweep stroke power at 260cm. Hopefully I get a chance to try one a hair closer to the 270cm like Cruiser suggested.

@dutchlennart Those MEC Scully bags worked great with the Gearaid buckles, so much easier than tying them in each time. Unfortunately the straps and buckles seem to have hidden themselves between loading the truck and arriving home. I did order a 2nd 30L RBW barrel for the front of the canoe after arriving home. We had too much food for just the one barrel and had a dry bag filled with cookware and extra food. The barrels are convenient and make nice side tables. The spoke anchors I made would have been better off being Mark VK's original design and have a small paracord loop tied to them. I noticed they are a bit vulnerable to impact when careless flopping heavy gear into the boat.